Flat panel display with black matrix and method of fabricating thereof

ABSTRACT

An organic electroluminescent display in which a black matrix with a concentration gradient of a transparent material and a metallic material is formed on the same surface as a pixel electrode. The black matrix and a pixel electrode of the organic electroluminescent display are formed using only one masking operation. The black matrix has a concentration gradient of a continuous gradient structure in which constituents of the transparent material are continuously decreased while constituents of the metallic material are continuously increased as a thickness of the black matrix is increased, a step gradient structure in which the constituents of the transparent material are gradually decreased while the constituents of the metallic material are gradually increased as the thickness of the black matrix is increased, or a multi-gradient structure in which the continuous gradient structure and/or the step gradient structure are repeated.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/354,110, filed Jan. 30, 2003, currently pending, which claims thebenefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-20426 filed on Apr. 15,2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures ofwhich are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a flat panel display, and moreparticularly, to an organic electroluminescent display in which a pixelelectrode and a black matrix with a concentration gradient of atransparent material and a metallic material are formed on the samesurface of a substrate, and a method of fabricating thereof without anadditional masking operation.

2. Description of the Related Art

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional activematrix organic electroluminescent display.

Referring to FIG. 1, a thin film transistor (TFT) and a capacitor areformed on a first region 101 of a dielectric substrate 100, on an upperpart of which a buffer layer 110 is formed. The thin film transistor isequipped with source/drain regions 125 and 126 which are formed on asemiconductor layer 120, a gate electrode 131 which is formed on a gateinsulating layer 130, and source/drain electrodes 151 and 152 which areformed on an interlayer insulating layer 140 so as to be electricallyconnected to the source/drain regions 125 and 126, respectively, throughcontact holes 141 and 142.

The capacitor is equipped with a first electrode 135 formed on the gateinsulating layer 130 and a second electrode 155 connected to the sourceelectrode 151. A part interposed between the first and second electrodes135 and 155 in the interlayer insulating layer 140 functions as adielectric layer of the capacitor.

An organic electroluminescent display device is formed on the secondregion 102 of the dielectric substrate 100. The organicelectroluminescent display device is equipped with a pixel electrode 170which is formed on a passivation layer 160 so as to be electricallyconnected to the drain electrode 152 through a via hole 161, an organicelectroluminescent layer 190 which is formed on the pixel electrode 170exposed through an opening part 185, and a metal electrode 195 which isformed on a planarization layer 180 comprising the organicelectroluminescent layer 190.

A flat panel display such as an active matrix organic light emittingdevice (AMOLED) with the foregoing structure includes a switching deviceand various wirings to impress power supply to the switching device,wherein an external light is reflected by a metallic material of thewirings.

For example, contrast is greatly deteriorated since the external lightis reflected by a metallic material which is used to form a gateelectrode and a lower electrode of the capacitor, an electrode materialwhich is used to form source/drain electrodes and an upper electrode ofthe capacitor, and an electrode material which is used to form acathode.

To prevent the deterioration of contrast due to a reflection of externallight, an expensive polarizer has been adhered to a front surface of aconventional organic electroluminescent display. However, in addition toan increase in manufacturing cost due to the use of the polarizer,transmittancy of the display is deteriorated. That is, since thepolarizer itself blocks light emitted from an organic electroluminescentlayer of the display, luminance is also decreased.

Furthermore, in a conventional display, a black matrix comprisingCr/CrO_(x) or an organic layer is separately formed on a region where athin film transistor and a capacitor are formed. However, a conventionalfabrication method thereof is complex and problematic as the methodnecessarily requires a separate masking operation to form the blackmatrix.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a flatpanel display having a pixel electrode and a black matrix in which theblack matrix and the pixel electrode are simultaneously formed on thesame surface, and a fabrication method thereof.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a flat paneldisplay having a black matrix which is capable of preventing adeterioration of contrast and improves luminance by preventing areflection due to external light, and a fabrication method thereofwithout an additional masking operation.

Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inpart in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious fromthe description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided a method of fabricating a flat panel display, themethod comprising sequentially forming a pixel electrode material and ablack matrix material on a dielectric substrate, simultaneously forminga pixel electrode and a black matrix on the substrate by patterning thepixel electrode material and the black matrix material, forming a firstinsulating layer on a front surface of the substrate, forming a thinfilm transistor connected to the pixel electrode and a capacitorconnected to the thin film transistor on the first insulating layercorresponding to the black matrix, forming a second insulating layer onthe front surface of the substrate, and forming an opening part exposinga part of the pixel electrode by etching the first and second layers.

The black matrix material may comprise a transparent dielectric materialsuch as SiO₂ and SiN_(x) and a metallic material, or a transparentconductive material such as ITO, IZO, and ZnO and a metallic material.The black matrix material may have a concentration gradient of acontinuous gradient structure in which constituents of the transparentmaterial are continuously decreased while constituents of the metallicmaterial are continuously increased as a thickness of the black matrixis being increased, a step gradient structure in which the constituentsof the transparent material are gradually decreased while theconstituents of the metallic material are gradually increased as thethickness of the black matrix is being increased, or a multi-gradientstructure in which the continuous gradient structure and/or the stepgradient are repeated.

To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention,there is provided a flat panel display comprising a dielectricsubstrate, a pixel electrode formed on the dielectric substrate, a blackmatrix formed on the same surface as the pixel electrode, a firstinsulating layer formed on a front surface of the dielectric substrate,a thin film transistor formed on the first insulating layercorresponding to the black matrix so as to be connected to the pixelelectrode, a capacitor formed on the first insulating layercorresponding to the black matrix so as to be connected to the thin filmtransistor, and a second insulating layer formed on the front surface ofthe dielectric substrate having an opening part which exposes a part ofthe pixel electrode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent and more readily appreciated from the followingdescription of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional organicelectroluminescent display;

FIG. 2A to FIG. 2E are cross-sectional views illustrating a method offabricating an organic electroluminescent display according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a method of fabricating anorganic electroluminescent display according to another embodiment ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 4A to FIG. 4B are cross-sectional views illustrating aconcentration gradient of a black matrix material in an organicelectroluminescent display according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 2A to FIG. 2E show cross-sectional views illustrating a method offabricating an organic electroluminescent display according to anembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2A, a transparent conductive layer 210 for a pixelelectrode and a layer having a concentration gradient for a black matrixare sequentially deposited on a transparent dielectric substrate 200,equipped with a first region 201 on which a thin film transistor and acapacitor are to be formed and a second region 202 on which an organicelectroluminescent display device is to be formed. A photosensitivelayer 230 is coated on the layer having a concentration gradient for theblack matrix.

Subsequently, parts on which the black matrix and the pixel electrodeare to be formed are defined using a halftone mask 300, wherein thehalftone mask 300 is equipped with a blocking region 310 whichcompletely blocks light to limit a part on which the black matrix is tobe formed, and a semi-transmission region 320 which transmits only apart of the light to limit a part on which the pixel electrode is to beformed. The residual part except for the blocking region 310 and thesemi-transmission region 320 is a transmission region which transmitsall of the light.

Referring to FIG. 2B, photosensitive layer patterns 231 and 232 areformed on the first region 201 and the second region 202, respectively,where the photosensitive layer 230 is patterned using the halftone mask300. The photosensitive layer pattern 231 formed on the first region 201is formed to correspond to the blocking region 310 of the halftone mask300 while the photosensitive layer pattern 232 formed on the secondregion 202 is formed to correspond to the semi-transmission region 320of the halftone mask 300. Therefore, the photosensitive layer pattern232 formed on the second region 202 has a relatively thinner thicknesscompared to the photosensitive layer pattern 231 formed on the firstregion 201.

Referring to FIG. 2C, the black matrix 225 is formed on the first region201 and the pixel electrode 212 is formed on the second region 202, atthe same time, by masking the photosensitive layer patterns 231 and 232having a different thickness, and etching the layer 220 having aconcentration gradient and the transparent conductive layer 210. Theblack matrix 225 includes a transparent conductive pattern 211 and apattern 221 having a concentration gradient. The black matrix 225 isformed on the first region 201 while the pixel electrode 212 having atransparent conductive pattern is formed on the second region 202 by athickness difference between the photosensitive layer patterns 231 and232.

The layer 220 having a concentration gradient for the black matrix 225comprises a first component of transparent material and a secondcomponent of metallic material, and has a concentration gradient of acontinuous gradient structure, a step gradient structure, or amulti-gradient structure.

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B illustrate cross-sectional views of concentrationgradients of layers for the black matrix 225 according to the presentinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, with reference to FIG. 2A to FIG.2D, the layer 220 for the black matrix 225 has a concentration gradientof a continuous gradient structure in which a first component oftransparent material is gradually decreased while a second component ofmetallic material is gradually increased as a thickness of the blackmatrix 225 is being increased from a surface of the substrate 200, thatis, as a distance of external incidence light is becoming more distant.

On the other hand, as illustrated in FIG. 4B, with reference to FIG. 2Ato FIG. 2D, the layer 220 for the black matrix 225 has a concentrationgradient of a step gradient structure in which a first component oftransparent material is decreased in steps while a second component ofmetallic material is increased in steps as a thickness of the blackmatrix 225 is being increased from the surface of the substrate 200,that is, as a distance of external incidence light is becoming moredistant. The layer 220 for the black matrix 225 may have a step gradientstructure in which the first and second components are decreased andincreased in five steps.

Although not shown, the layer 220 for the black matrix 225 can have aconcentration gradient of a multi-gradient structure in which thecontinuous gradient of FIG. 4A is repeatedly formed, a multi-gradientstructure in which the step gradient of FIG. 4B is repeatedly formed, ora multi-gradient structure in which the continuous gradient and the stepgradient are repeatedly formed.

A transparent dielectric material such as SiO₂ and SiN_(x), or atransparent conductive material such as ITO, IZO and ZnO can be used asthe first component of transparent material of the black matrix 225, andAl, Cr, Mo, Ti, Ag, Au, W, and Cu can be used as the second component(s)of metallic material of the black matrix 225.

In one aspect of the present invention, the pixel electrode material 210and the layer 220 having a concentration gradient can be deposited inin-situ, in an operation of FIG. 2A, where a material havingconcentration gradients of a transparent conductive material and ametallic material for a pixel electrode is used as the layer 220 havinga concentration gradient for the black matrix 225.

A black matrix having the foregoing structure prevents a reflection ofexternal light since a light absorption ratio is increased as athickness of the black matrix is increased from a surface of asubstrate, that is, as a distance of external incidence light is moredistant.

As described above, a fabrication method of the organicelectroluminescent display can be simplified since a separate maskingoperation to form the black matrix 225 is excluded where the blackmatrix 225 including the transparent conductive pattern 211 and thepattern 221 having a concentration gradient, and the pixel electrode 212having a transparent conductive pattern are simultaneously formed on thesubstrate 200 using the halftone mask 300.

Referring to FIG. 2D and FIG. 2E, a thin film transistor, a capacitorand an organic electroluminescent display device are formed after theforming of the black matrix 225 and the pixel electrode 212. A bufferlayer 240 is first formed on a front surface of the substrate 200 onwhich the black matrix 225 and the pixel electrode 212 are formed, and asemiconductor layer 250 is formed on the buffer layer 240 of the firstregion 201.

Subsequently, a gate insulating layer 260 is formed on the buffer layer240 having the semiconductor layer 250, and a gate electrode 261 and afirst electrode 265 of the capacitor are simultaneously formed on thegate insulating layer 260 of an upper part of the semiconductor layer250. Source/drain regions 255 and 256 are formed, for example, by ionimplanting certain conductive type impurities, for example, n type or ptype impurities into the semiconductor layer 250 after the forming ofthe gate electrode 261 and the first electrode 265 of the capacitor.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2E, contact holes 271, 272 and 273 whichexpose the source/drain regions 255 and 256, and the pixel electrode212, are formed by forming an interlayer insulating layer 270 on thefront surface of the substrate 200, and etching the interlayerinsulating layer 270, the gate insulating layer 260 and the buffer layer240.

A source electrode 281, which is electrically contacted with one of thesource/drain regions, for example, a source region 255 through thecontact hole 271, and a second electrode 285 of the capacitor, which isconnected to the source electrode 281, are formed by patterning ametallic material after depositing the metallic material on theinterlayer insulating layer 270 having the contact holes 271, 272 and273. Furthermore, a drain electrode 282, which is electrically contactedwith the drain region 256 through the contact hole 272 and electricallyconnected to the pixel electrode 212 through the contact hole 273, isformed.

An opening part 295 is formed by etching a passivation layer 290, theinterlayer insulating layer 270, the gate insulating layer 260, and thebuffer layer 240 so as to expose the pixel electrode 212 after theforming of the passivation layer 290 on the front surface of thesubstrate 200. Although not shown, a cathode is formed after forming anorganic electroluminescent layer on the pixel electrode 212 in theopening part 295.

FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of an organicelectroluminescent display, which is a flat panel display, according toanother embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a blackmatrix 325 is used as an electrode of a capacitor, and the black matrix325 includes a transparent conductive pattern 311 and a pattern 321having a concentration gradient. A pixel electrode 312 having atransparent conductive pattern and the black matrix 325 are formed onthe same surface of a substrate 300, as in the embodiment shown in FIG.2A to FIG. 2F.

That is, in this embodiment, a capacitor having a parallel structurealong with a second electrode 365 and a third electrode 385 is formed byusing the black matrix 325 as a first electrode of the capacitor.

A method of forming the black matrix 325, which includes the transparentconductive pattern 311 and the pattern 321 having a concentrationgradient, and the pixel electrode 312 having a transparent conductivepattern on the dielectric substrate 300 is the same as that of theembodiment of FIG. 2A to FIG. 2E.

Thereafter, an interlayer insulating layer 370 is formed on a frontsurface of the substrate 300 after forming a semiconductor layer 350equipped with source/drain regions 355 and 356 on a buffer layer 340,and forming a gate 361 and a second electrode 365 of the capacitor on agate insulating layer 360.

Subsequently, the interlayer insulating layer 370 is etched to formfirst and second contact holes 371 and 372 which expose the source/drainregions 355 and 356, a third contact hole 373 which exposes the pixelelectrode 312, and a fourth contact hole 374 which exposes the pattern321 having a concentration gradient of the black matrix 325, at the sametime.

A conductive material for source/drain electrodes 381 and 382 isdeposited and patterned on the interlayer insulating layer 370 to form,for example, the source electrode 381, which is contacted with thesource region 355 through the first contact hole 371, the drainelectrode 382 which is simultaneously contacted with the drain region356 through the second contact hole 372 and contacted with the pixelelectrode 312 through the third contact hole 373, and a third electrode385 of the capacitor which is simultaneously connected to the sourceelectrode 381 and connected to the black matrix 325 through the fourthcontact hole 374.

The black matrix 325 is conductive and used as a first electrode of thecapacitor. Accordingly, a transparent conductive material such as ITO,IZO and ZnO can be used as a first component of the black matrix 325while a metallic material such as Al, Cr, Mo, Ti, Ag, Au, W and Cu canbe used as a second component of the black matrix 325.

According to the foregoing embodiments of the present invention, aseparate masking operation to form a black matrix can be omitted sincethe black matrix and a pixel electrode can be simultaneously formed onthe same surface of a substrate using a halftone mask using only onecycle of a masking operation. Additionally, a conventional insulatinglayer deposition operation to insulate the pixel electrode fromsource/drain electrodes can be omitted in the present invention. Also, aseparate masking operation to form a via hole which connects the pixelelectrode and the source/drain electrodes can be omitted in the presentinvention. Therefore, the foregoing embodiments of the present inventionresult in process simplification and yield improvement.

Furthermore, in a flat panel display having a black matrix and afabrication method thereof according to the foregoing embodiments of thepresent invention, a luminance can be improved by preventing areflection due to external light without using an expensive polarizer,thereby improving a transmittancy.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in these embodiments without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe appended claims and their equivalents.

1. A method of fabricating a flat panel display, the method comprising:sequentially forming a pixel electrode material and a black matrixmaterial on a substrate; simultaneously forming a pixel electrode and ablack matrix on the substrate by patterning the pixel electrode materialand the black matrix material; forming a first insulating layer on afront surface of the substrate; forming a thin film transistor connectedto the pixel electrode and a capacitor connected to the thin filmtransistor on the first insulating layer corresponding to the blackmatrix; forming a second insulating layer on the front surface of thesubstrate; and forming an opening part exposing a part of the pixelelectrode by etching the first and second insulating layers.
 2. Themethod of fabricating a flat panel display according to claim 1, whereinthe simultaneously forming of the pixel electrode and the black matrixcomprises forming the pixel electrode, and the black matrix having alayered structure of the pixel electrode material and the black matrixmaterial, at the same time by patterning the black matrix material andthe pixel electrode material using a halftone mask.
 3. The method offabricating a flat panel display according to claim 1, wherein the blackmatrix material comprises a transparent material and a metallicmaterial, thereby having a concentration gradient.
 4. The method offabricating a flat panel display according to claim 3, wherein thetransparent material is a transparent dielectric material.
 5. The methodof fabricating a flat panel display according to claim 3, wherein thetransparent material is a transparent conductive material such as ITO,IZO, and ZnO.
 6. The method of fabricating a flat panel displayaccording to claim 5, wherein the sequentially forming of the pixelelectrode material and the black matrix material comprises depositingthe pixel electrode and black matrix materials in in-situ where thepixel electrode comprises the transparent conductive material, and theblack matrix material comprises the transparent conductive material andthe metallic material.
 7. The method of fabricating a flat panel displayaccording to claim 3, wherein the black matrix material has theconcentration gradient of a continuous gradient structure in whichconstituents of the transparent material are continuously decreasedwhile constituents of the metallic material are continuously increasedas a thickness of the black matrix is being increased, a step gradientstructure in which the constituents of the transparent material aregradually decreased while the constituents of the metallic material aregradually increased as the thickness of the black matrix is beingincreased, or a multi-gradient structure in which the continuousgradient structure and/or the step gradient structure are repeated. 8.The method of fabricating a flat panel display according to claim 1,wherein the black matrix is used as an electrode of the capacitor. 9.The method of fabricating a flat panel display according to claim 1,wherein the simultaneously forming of the pixel electrode and the blackmatrix comprises forming the pixel electrode and the black matrix usingonly one masking operation.
 10. The method of fabricating a flat paneldisplay according to claim 1, wherein the forming of the thin filmtransistor connected to the pixel electrode and the capacitor connectedto the thin film transistor includes connecting the black matrix to thecapacitor in the same operation of connecting the thin film transistorto the pixel electrode and connecting the capacitor to the thin filmtransistor.
 11. The method of fabricating a flat panel display accordingto claim 4, wherein the transparent dielectric material is one of SiO₂and SiN_(x).
 12. The method of fabricating a flat panel displayaccording to claim 5, wherein the transparent conductive material is oneof ITO, IZN, and ZnO.